The distance element mentioned is certainly a consideration; the fact remains that is IS a manageable drive…but honestly too short to fly for most.

The challenge will indeed be marketing this to DRIVERS and not the FLYERS.

There’s plenty of room except between Newark and New York and then only during rush hour. Amtrak has chronic car shortages. They are probably more constrained by not having enough cars than they are by track capacity. South/West of Newark and North/East of the Sunnyside Yards in Queens there’s plenty of capacity.

If Amtrak happens to make some money this way, fine. But in fact, the Acelas are full, even at the high prices, because the tracks are full. Completely full.

The Northeast Corridor carries the hourly Acelas, Regional trains, Keystones from NYC to Philly and on to Harrisburg, long distance trains heading off to Chicago, New Orleans, and Florida, as well as hundreds of commuter trains into four or five cities. There is no room on the tracks for another single daylight train out of NYC to D.C. Not one more train can be squeezed into the schedule.

The route from Boston to NYC is constrained by the numerous rivers, bays, and yacht basins along the New England Shore. Under maritime law, any ship or sailboat on a navigable waterway has a right of passage, so drawbridges must be opened at least every hour.

So Boston is limited to one Acela per hour. And D.C. too. Not one Acela every half hour. Not an Acela every 20 minutes. ONE per hour. And every one is full. The scarce seats are priced high because of they are, in effect., bid up

To get the Acelas, or their successors, up to a reasonable number of fast trains and available seats — with what the British call a “turn up and go” frequency — with added tracks, and new bridges, tunnels, and catenaries, as well as more equipment, will require as many billions of bucks as will raising the speed. If capacity is not greatly increased, but only the speed, then the tickets will cost even more thannow, and they will all be bought by the elite on expense accounts.

I’ve always thought it would be a great if Amtrak could lengthen the acelas into 10 car trains, and bump up the frequency somewhat. That would increase supply, and thereby allow them to have lower prices.

If Amtrak no longer had a mandate to maximize revenue, they might also be able to eliminate fare “buckets” and charge the same price no matter when you buy your ticket. That is how trains in Japan and perhaps in Europe work. And ridership would go WAY up.

I’d like to see the government work to simply get a 100 km/h (minimum) diesel service between the cities up and running using existing infrastructure and new trainsets. The trains should be spec’d for higher runnning speeds available once the infrastructure upgrades permit it, for example using similar Talgo equipment to Washington state. The initial frequent, reliable service will help build ridership but it will require operating subsidy. However, the initial capital cost is perhaps 10-15% of the high speed options in the report and the service could be up and running in a fraction of the time. Then new tracks with alignments capable of high speed can be gradually added, tied into the existing line, to incrementally lower the travel time. Eventually you should have trunk line Calgary to Edmonton that is electrified for TGV speeds, with continuing service over existing lines or new alignments to other destinations (Lethbridge, Canmore, etc) possibly at lower speeds. The initial diesel powered equipment can be cascaded to these branches or to establish local commuter rail.

The high-speed rail seems to be viewed by the Alberta government as all-or-nothing. They are not willing to fund “all”. Hence we get nothing. Basic service is needed as a start!